Temperature controlled heating apparatus



- Allg. 20, 1940. W AYERS 2,212,285

TEMPERATURE CONTROLLED HEATING APPARATUS Fi'led Jan.- 24, 1938 PatentedAug. 20, 1940 TEMPERATURE CONTROLLEDI HEATING APPARATUS -Williarn Ayers,Evanston, Ill. application Januaryk 24, icas, serial Ne.. 186,701

2 Claims.

My main object is to provide improvements in heating apparatuses to theend of more satisfactorily controlling the operation of the apparatusand produce vmore uniform heating of the space to be heated. v i

Another object is to provide for the nearest approach possible to suchregulation of the heater as to compensate at all times for the leakageof the heat units from the space to be heated, regardless of the outdoortemperature.

Another object is to provideimprovements in heaters in Which a heatingmedium is generated, by' any suitable means, as for example gas or oil,or electricity, all of which, for the purpose of this application willbe treated as fuel heaters, to the end of rendering the supply of fuelto the heater controllable automatically from temperature conditions, toincrease the iiow of fuel to theheater as the temperature lowers anddecrease the flow of the fuel to the heateras the temperature rises; thefuel iiow changing responsive to each change in temperature conditions,

as distinguished from a condition in which the fuel supply to thevheater is either fully open, or fully closed, or in addition at a fewselected temperatures, a retarded flow of fuel to the heater is providedfor; and other objects as will be manifest from the followingdescription.

Referring to the accompanying drawing:

Figure 1 is a view in elevation, partly diagrammatic, of apparatusvembodying my invention; and

:Figure 2, an enlarged sectional View of the heater element of theinstallation.

I have chosen to illustrate my invention as applied to a gas heater theoperation of which is controlled responsive to changes in the outdoortemperature. The gas heater shown at 3 may be utilized to heat the roomor rooms to be heat- 40 ed, in any desirable way and by any desirablemedium.` The gas heater, by Way of example, may form a part of a hotwater boiler in a hot water heating system.

The burner of the heater isrepresented at '4 and is shown as located ina re box 5 the inlet end 6 of the burner, as is customary, flaringoutwardly. r A pipe 1 for supplying gas to the burner extends throughthe front wall 8 of the re box and into the inlet 6 of the burner and inspaced relation thereto.

The front wall 8 of the fire box contains a circular series of openings9 surrounding the pipe 'l and communicating with the burner inlet 6 tosupply thereto primary combustion supporting air, and a second circularseries of openings lil for` supplying secondary combustion supportingair to the discharge from the burner 4. A circular shutter il isrotatably mounted onv the front wall 8 of the fire box concentric withthe :series of openingsr Si and i!) and contains seg` mental slotsv i2spanning the openings 9 and l0, whereby upon rotating the vshutter theeffective sizes of the openings 9 and ilmay be varied from substantiallyzero to a maximum, to thereby provide for thesupplying to the heaterofthe proper amount of prirnaryqand` secondary air to be supplied to thegas flowing into the burner as hereinafter described.

Itis the more usual'practice in service gas installations to vprovideeach building to be supplied with gas, with a gas pressure regulatorlocated within the building and serving to insure the delivery of thegasto its point of use at a pressure not exceeding apredeterminedpressure regardless of the pressure in the mains.v Such aregulator, modified, however, as hereinafter explained, is shown at I3.It comprises a casing i4 havinga partition l5 ,and a movable diaphragmI6 vdividing it into a high pressure chamber Il, an inter-mediate lowpressure chamber ES y `and an upper chamber I9 the partition l5 havingan opening 20 providing a valve seat-2l for-a Valve 22 connected withthe diaphragm I6. vThe regulator I3 is interposed in the service line 'lahead of the burner 4 whereby the burner-re-; ceives its gas supply fromthe low pressure chamber I8.

The diaphragm i6, and therefore the valve 22, are spring loaded as bythe compression" spring shown at 23 as customarily provided,whereby'it.. is necessary that a certain pressure yof gas vb-uild up inchamber I8, depending upon the resistance of the spring 23, before thevalve 22 -will close, the greater the pressure permitted Ito buildup inchamber I8 the greater the flow of gasto the,

burner. y

In accordance with my invention,considering this particular`embodimentthereof, Ifautomatically regulate the amount of vpressurewhich may be built upin chamber I8 and thus the rate of; flow of gas tothe burner, responsive'to changes in theoutdoor temperature. As *theloutdoor temperature lowers the resistance-'of spring 23 is caused to beincreased requiring the attainment of a higher pressure of gas in thechamber i3 before the valve 22 will close; and as the outdoortemperature `rises, the resistance of the spring 23 is caused to bedecreased requiring the attainment of a lower pressure of gas in thechamber i8 before the valve 2,2 Will close.

In the arrangement shown I provide a spring tensioning member 24comprising a rod 25 slidable in the casing I4 and having a head 26 whichbears against the upper end of the spring 23. 'I'he rod 25 pressesagainst the underside of a lever 21 hinged at 28 to an upright 29 on abracket 30 secured to the casing I4. A tension spring 3I connected withthe bracket 30 and adjustably with the lever 21 and of greater strengththan the spring 23, forces the lever 21 against the rod 25 and thuscompresses the spring 23, except as restrained by the controllingmechanismvnow to be described.

Interposed between the bracket 30 and the lever 21 is a bellows-likeexpansible and contractible member 32 closed except for connection witha tube 33 which leads to a point outside of the building in which theheater is located and is there provided with a bulb 34 exposed to theoutdoor temperature.

The bulb 34, tube 33, and member 32, constituting a thermostat device,are closed to the atmosphere and contain any suitable fluid which, incontracting and expanding under variations in the outdoor temperature,controls, through the member 32, the position of the lever 21 andconsequently the degree to which the diaphragm I6 is spring loaded.

In practice it will be found desirable to so condition the mechanismsdescribed that at say 72 F. outdoor temperature, the member 32 will beexpanded by the actuating fluid to such an extent that the loading ofthe spring 23 is negligible and thus no, or practically no, gas issupplied to the burner; but as the outdoor temperature decreases thefluid in the thermostat device contracts permitting the spring 3I tolower the lever and increase the spring load on the diaphragm I6 c andthe valve 22, thus opening the latter and setting the regulator for themaintaining at this temperature of a high degree of gas pressure; and asthe outdoor temperature rises the iluid expands, thus lifting the lever21 and reducing the spring load on the valve 22.

'Ihe pressure of the gas flowing to the burner 4 will be varied whenevera temperature change in the outdoor atmosphere occurs, `the parts of theapparatus being so proportioned and arranged that there will be supplied.tothe burner automatically approximately that amount of gas necessaryto maintain a predetermined temperature, say 12 F. in the building to'beheated regardless of the outdoor temperature, the varying of thepressure of gas being directly responsive to each atmospheric change,approximately uniformity of heating is effected.

As the air supplied to the heater for primary and secondary combustionshould Vary with the pressure of the gas, less air being supplied to theburner as the gas pressure to the burner decreases, and vice versa,provision is made for automatically accomplishing such control of theair. This is eiected by connecting an arm 35 on the shutter II with thelever 21, as by means of the adjustable link connection 36, the shutterII rotating in a direction to aord increased air entry to the heater asthe lever 21 swings downward responsive to a drop in the outdoortemperature, and rotating in a reverse direction to reduce air entry tothe heater as the outdoor temperature rises.

Sometimes a plurality of heaters, in practice, are connected with asingle gas pressure regulator so located as to be subject to thetemperature of the outdoor atmosphere. My invention may also be appliedto such installations, in which case the outlet 1 of the describedstructure would. be branched to lead the gas to the plurality ofheaters.

While I have illustrated and described a particular embodiment of myinvention and have also described a modication thereof, I do not wish tobe understood as intending to limit it thereto, as the same may bevariously modified and altered and the invention embodied in other formsof structure without departing from the' spirit thereof. Thus by way ofexample, any other suitable form of temperature controlled means may beused if desired to regulate thev fuelflo-w controller.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is:

l. In combination with a gas-red heater in anl enclosure, a conduit forconducting gas to the heater, a gas-pressure regulator for controllingthe gas pressure in said conduit having a springloaded valve-operatingdiaphragm and temperature-controlled means for controlling the loadingof said diaphragm operative, upon each temperature decrease exterior tosaid housing to increase the load on said diaphragm to increase thepressure of gas in the conduit and upon each tem perature rise todecrease the load on the diaphragm to decrease the pressure ot gas insaid conduit, said means comprising a movable member for controlling theloading of the diaphragm, a spring urging said member in a direction toincrease the load on the diaphragm, and amovable element controlled bythe temperature exterior of said enclosure acting on said memberin'opposition to said last-reierred-to spring.

2. In combination `with a gas-red heater in an enclosure, a conduit forconducting gas to the heater, a gas-pressure regulator for controllingthe gas pressure in said conduit-having a springloaded valve-operatingdiaphragm and temperature-controlled means for controlling the loadingof said diaphragm operative, upon each temperature decrease exterior ofsaid enclosure to increase the load on said diaphragm to increase thepressure of gas inthe conduit and upon eachtemperature rise to decreasethe load on the diaphragm to decrease the pressure of gas in saidconduit, said means comprising a movable member for controlling theloading of the diaphragm,

v a spring urgingsaid member in a direction to the expansion of saidfluid to move said movable' member in opposition to saidlast-referred-to spring. v

WILLIAM AYERS.

